Lorenzo di
Credi

Lorenzo learned from his father, the goldsmith, and then Andrea del Verrocchio. His work was influenced by his fellow school Verokko Leonardo da Vinci. Worked in Florence in the workshop of Verrocchio until his death. In a large, very detailed easel paintings by this artist, mostly religious in content, carefully study and thoroughness forms of the letter connected with sincerity and warmth expressed in their religious feelings.

A disciple and heir of Verrocchio, Lorenzo was so deeply devoted to his master that Verrocchio, having gone to Venice, entrusted him with the management of his workshop in Florence. After the death of Verrocchio (1488), he brought from Venice the teacher's body. From Verrocchio Lorenzo adopted a clear and accurate picture, but softened and transformed into a more academic. Leonardo, his fellow students, he served as a example, he borrowed sfumato and transparent glazes, and, according to Vasari, imitated him "so well that there was no one who in respect of vypisnoy and completeness" could be compared to him.

In the early period of creativity Lorenzo belong the works executed in the workshop of Verrocchio and ordered the teacher ("Madonna di Piazza", Pistoia Cathedral). Lorenzo has created a series of sculptures, which, however, we have no documentary information. Stylistic evolution Lorenzo is hard to reconstruct, as throughout its long activities the artist has not changed in a decisive manner the orientation and has not updated manner. Considerably, only a gradual decline in the quality of his painting, connected, doubtless, with the intervention of his students and assistants. Among his first independent works can be called "the Annunciation" (Florence, Uffizi), the "Madonna and child" (Turin, Gal. Sabauda), Tondo "Adoration of the infant Christ" (Venice, Gal. Querini Stampalia). Later came the "Madonna with saints" (Paris, Louvre), one of the rare dated works (1494), and finally, "the Worship of the Christ child" (Florence, Uffizi), painted in the early XVI century.

A bright personality, Lorenzo had a big workshop, was repeatedly invited to appreciate works of art and served as an arbitrator in lawsuits painters; he was also respected restorer of ancient works of art. He was widely recognized during his life as evidenced by the huge number of works written by him or his workshop (altars, religious pictures, portraits). However, Vasari judge it very strictly, noting his excessive "sensitivity" ("where he worked, no one dared to move, not to raise dust"), his devotion to artisanal skills, his penchant for "excessive thinness" in the decoration of the paintings. However, such judgments often turn out to be unfounded.